Seven Quick Takes

1. I can't seem to find my favorite Christmasy long sleeved shirt. It's red and white striped and so festive (and a tiny bit tacky) when I wear it under a Christmas t-shirt or really any shirt. I haven't done a full out search yet so there's still a chance it will turn up but it's not in its proper place.
2. I'm hoping to prep our house for Christmas decorating today. This involves taking down the Thanksgiving decorations, locating all of the Christmas decorations, dusting, and rearranging furniture. I think I'm finally in the mood for all that "fun."
3. I'm also hoping to clean out my car and decorate it for Christmas--I have tinsel, lights, and some ornaments. My theme is "Tacky, Tacky, Oh So Tacky." I'm doing this first, as soon as I finish this post and Grace finishes her English.
4. I'm reading a very weird book but I am liking it. It's called, "the mercy of thin air," by Ronlyn Domingue. I just want to take a minute to say that it drives me crazy that I cannot underline the name of a book here on Blogger. I never can decide if I should put the name in quotations or just leave it. The cover of this book has the whole title written in lowercase letters and so I decided to go with the quotes to set it apart. I just want you, my reader, to know that I do know some proper grammar and know that book titles are underlined. Anyway, in this book, the story is told from the viewpoint of a ghost. She died about 80 years ago and she now haunts a young couple and also narrates their life. It's not just about them because she also tells her story and her life alternately with the couples. It freaks me out a little when she talks about things she does when she is with the couple--like knock books off the counter, drop marbles in the floor, etc. I am enjoying this unusual story though.
5. I have a great book that I want to read to my kids called, "Murder For Her Majesty," but am thinking that we should just wait until after the holidays to start. Our read aloud time is limited due to our unusual schedule and I'd like to use that time to read through our huge collection of Christmas books as well as some from the library. I love reading to my kids and always feel guilty when I'm not doing much of it.
6. I've bought myself two Christmas t-shirts in the last few days. I love a good holiday t-shirt and only have one so I splurged. I also bought the kids Christmas t-shirts. It was surprisingly hard to find ones for them in our local stores. I'm sure Old Navy has some great ones but I'm not driving that far. In Target and Wal-mart they only had long sleeve in the girls section. Living in FL a long sleeved Christmas shirt is impractical. I found some short sleeve boys shirts at Walmart but all of them had some sassy statement on them--like "Save Time, Skip My Sister." I can't remember the others but Hannah and Joe ended up getting one that says, "It's All Fun and Games Until Santa Finds Out." I didn't love it but it was the best of the worst. Grace ended up getting a shirt in the woman's section--it's a little big but will work.
7. I've got a really fun idea for our Christmas picture, hoping to do that tomorrow. I have made myself a Christmas to-do list and it is crazy long. I know that we should focus on the "reason for the season" and I certainly do that but it's also nearly impossible to escape the craziness of it all. I am hoping to find a good balance this year. I am actually in a crafty/art mood and am looking for some fun ideas to do with the kids this week and next as part of their school.
Well, it's time to go and get started on the pre-decorating. Pictures to come later...